Week 3: Juuuust Right

Remember in Goldie Locks and the Three Bears when Goldie Locks (that naughty girl she was, being in someone’s house without asking) sat at the table tasting porridge… this one is tooo hot…this one is tooo cold… this one is just right!  That moment…The moment the porridge finally tasted perfectly warm, was exactly what happened this week!

This week things came together in awesome ways!  So much awesomeness is happening.  I simply can not contain it to a day by day account and feel the the urge to shout all of the awesomeness that happened this week!!!!

 
1)  Students can independently upload documents from Dropbox to Goodreader

2)  Students now complete all worksheets on the iPad (both in class and at home)

3)  All class notes are taken on the iPad

4)  Students know how to independently view documents side by side in Goodreader
     ex. Students can complete their paragraph organizer on the iPad and view it on the same
           screen while typing the paragraph using it

5)  All grading is done at the beginning of each class (a huge change in routine for us)

6)  Grading time is down to 5 minutes

7)  Instant daily feedback of performance has significantly reduced the number of 
     corrections that need to be made to homework

8)  Corrections are now done the day they happen, rather then on a specific day of the week

9)  The overall pace of a class lesson has almost doubled,  
     significantly increasing the amount of instruction given 
     in a week

10) Students are starting to use their iPads to take notes on while looking at 
      videos / resources on the computer

11) We are almost a completely paperless classroom

12) WE… staff…myself and my Teaching Assistants…and my students are crazy 
      giddy happy and proud…WE ARE (almost completely) A PAPERLESS CLASSROOM!!!!

13) Students use all of our basic apps almost completely independently…  
      Goodreader, Dropbox, Google allowing me to begin to slowly introduce new tools

14) New fantasticness is emerging…Fantasticness I tell you! 

15) We use the Socrative app once a week in two classes to record and document 
      student performance in Reading and Social Studies

16) We began using Study Blue to learn measurement abbreviations in Math class

17) Upon learning how to use Study Blue one of my students sat in his desk, stared at 
      me, stared some more and then said…

Student: Wait…this makes note cards.
Me: Yes, it does
Student: I make note cards for Science class
Me: Yes you do
Student: Can I use this to make note cards for Science
Me: You sure can
…and we set up a time after school to make the note cards together. 

 Can you just feel the sparks and connections clicking!!!

18) We discovered the app (during a day it was offered for free…bonus) Jet Scanner and a 
      whole new world of independent awesomeness was opened. No scanner needed 
      when you can take a picture of a worksheet, turn it into a PDF and then upload it 
      to Dropbox, share it with all of your students and they can upload it into Goodreader 
      and type and/or write on it

19) I am in the process of starting Assistive Technology  
      Evaluations for three of my students. I have plenty of 
      data already that these tools need to be a perminent 
      part of their educational days  


Next weeks technology and iPad goals…

  • Introducing, modeling how to use and using Baiboard to students…humongously huge deal…this means working in groups (something that is very challenging for my students and we rarely do)
  • Changing my thinking about how we are teaching measurement to my Math students.  No more memorizing and memorizing and memorizing conversion facts.  I am going to focus on teaching them to use technology as a resource to access facts and information.
  • Teach my students to use the Jet Scanner app, how to upload documents to our Dropbox and make them available to the class
  • Explore and test out ClassDojo behavior management system
  • Continue to our awesmomeness streak into the next week…because seriously..My StUdEnTs RoCk!!!!


Week 1: Unexpected Crazy Perfection

You know those weeks that you walk into your classroom thinking I have everything planned. 

You’ve checked your ToDo list, your calendar, run through the second ToDo list in your head and think done, done and yes! 

This week was one of those weeks….or so I thought.

This was it. THE WEEK!!! The iPads were going to be handed out. It was finally here. All my prep, hard work, planning was finally going to be unleashed on my class. Little did I realize that my giddy excitement had left me unprepared for one thing…. The one huge gigantic duhhhh thing you fail to remember.   It was ISAT testing (Illinois State Achievement Testing)… Yep!! Happening this week. I had giddily waited for for three weeks.   By the time I finally connected the dots all I could say to myself was uuggggggg what the HECK were you thinking Carrie!!!  Introduce iPads to your students during ISAT week(I was even totally prepared for the testing week)What can I say…I blame my giddy excitement.

MONDAY– It was THE day! It was the day I was going to pass out the iPads and start teaching my students to utilize all their technological goodness. Only I did not prepare for the entire tech team to be out at the ICE Conference for two days. That meant that the iPads were not going to be ready. UGGGGGGGG I thought for sure my students would string me up by my toes and give me a major guilt trip for not having them…. no one even asked! 

TUESDAY– brought us a snowday… wooohooo 

WEDNESDAY– State testing day for our school. An error in ordering had left students on my case load without testing materials, leaving me with a two hour block of time I needed to fill with my students while the rest of the building tested…ugggggg (that word is becoming my mantra) and seriously! I sat at my desk siggghhhing at the situation. Scanning the classroom as if it had answer, my brain tries to process what was happening. Suddenly, my eyes connected with the cart of laptops and iPads. The iPads were ready. They were READY. THEEEEYYYYY WERE REEEADY!!! Before I knew it I was explaining to my students that were we not having testing. After i answered all their questions about why and how and what if I told them that today was the day they were getting their iPads. 

“You mean to take home and use all the time?!!!!!!” 

“Yes!!! To take home and use all the time!!!!” 

 …Instantly this unexpected… this uuuugggggg moment became two hours of uninterrupted instruction on how to use, navigate and interact with the iPad. 

It was unexpected fabulousness! 

Those two hours gave me an opportunity to flow from one iPad lesson to the next. No interruptions. No passing periods, no announcements. I introduced them to Dropbox. Showed them how to load materials from our Dropbox into Goodreader (if you have iPads and do not use this you are seriously missing an incredible tool. It IS my student’s binder). We logged into their Edmodo and Google accounts. We explored and got to know each apps functions and ways. My teaching assistants and I smiled and giggled as we watched our students look at their iPads, realize what they can do, realize the new skills they had and see their eyes widen and their smiles over take their face. It was absolute awesomeness!!! 

As we wrapped up the two hours by asking our students to fill out their assignment notebooks I looked at my class, smiled and waited for it. I watched as a couple of students start to stand to get an assignment notebook sheet. 

 “What ya doing?” I asked waiting for my student to make eye contact with me. 

“Getting my assignment notebooks sheet.” 

“Reallyyyy?!” I said, totally over exaggerating my smile.  I held my smile waiting it to happen 

{Wait for it} 

{Wait for it} 

“My assignment notebook is on my iPad!!!!!” 

“Yep!! No papers!” I smiled!

 {roaring infectious giggle} 

 “THIS IS SOOOOO COOL!!!!” 

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY our tests showed up and testing happened. Now not having my usual instructional time began to once again make me think uggggggg what was I thinking. This is an awful week to roll out the iPads. As our testing sessions ended and our modified schedule played out I began to realize that this week could not have been more perfect to do exactly what I had done. The modified schedule coupled with the general expectation of reduced, if not any homework, because of testing gave me freedom. It gave me the freedom to break in all the apps I wanted my students to use without the pressure of a full on class lesson. It gave me the freedom to give a worksheet for my students to try doing at home on the iPad instead of a packet or complex assignment. It gave me and my students time to connect with the iPad, my new expectations, their new mind set and the freedom to work through all the ins and outs and what ifs. 

It was quite a week! It was totally unexpectedly amazingly unplanned perfection! 

I’m exhausted!!

Getting Ready….Pre-Week #1

Today it began.

I did it.

I shared the letter with my students introducing the 1:1 iPad classroom we were becoming.  Excitement filled the classroom. Question after question came from their mouths and it all became real to me.

Parent Letter

This was really happening.

So as eager students go home to share with their parents the news of this fantastic opportunity I plan and prepare the technology.

My Fancy TO DO List

With a week left to prepare for the big hand out I am…

  • Assigning students to iPads
  • Labeling iPads with students names
  • Making sure all the iPads have the apps I want on them…I am starting with Dropbox, Goodreader, Edmodo, a whiteboard app, Google app and Paperport Notes
  • Making sure each student has the necessary accounts
  • Preparing a file with most used PDFs ready to be shared with each student’s Dropbox

In between preparing the iPads and having excited students eagerly return their technology agreements I am also running though my daily schedule trying to predict and anticipate any glitches I need to prepare for.